Health Ministry spokesman in Gaza, Khalil al-Daqran, warned in a statement that the blockade poses a great danger to the lives of patients and injured persons.

Al-Daqran explained that during the six-week ceasefire, active from January 19 to March 2, Israel barely allowed the entry of supplies that covered 15 percent of the needs.

However, it refused to allow passage to equipment needed for intensive care wards, artificial kidney departments, oxygen stations, and other electrical devices, he underscored.

He warned that some 25,000 patients and wounded people in the Strip need treatment abroad, but it only authorized, during that period, about 1,150 of them, a figure lower than the agreed figure of up to 200 per day.

A large number of patients died, said the spokesman, who called on the international community to put pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to force it to reopen the border crossings.

Several countries, the United Nations, and the NGOs strongly criticized the Israeli decision because it threatened the lives of more than two million Palestinians.

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